


Of Pining and Pinstripes

by SeireiLeafy



Category: Hazbin Hotel (Web Series)
Genre: Asexual Alastor, Charlie just wants everyone to be happy, Eventual Smut, F/M, Family Dynamics, Good Dad Lucifer, M/M, Multi, Pining Lucifer, Polyamory, Supportive Lilith, Touch-averse Alastor, more tags to come
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-04
Updated: 2019-12-07
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:40:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21669892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SeireiLeafy/pseuds/SeireiLeafy
Summary: Lucifer faces resurfacing feelings following a visit to his daughters hotel. Alastor doesn't know how to handle flirting.Charlie is just confused.
Relationships: Alastor/Lucifer (Hazbin Hotel), Lilith/Lucifer (Hazbin Hotel)
Comments: 53
Kudos: 537





	1. Visiting Day.

Today was the day.

Charlie had been anxiously awaiting this day for almost a week now. She spent every minute of spare time she had making sure the hotel was in peak condition, dusting away imaginary cobwebs and straightening already straight paintings. More than once she had gotten on Nifty’s nerves, insisting the small demon repolish an already flawless surface and micromanaging the way she cleaned the windows (“Wipe in circles, otherwise you’ll leave streaks!”, “…yes, _ma’am._ ”). Charlie knew she was being overbearing, but she honestly couldn’t stop if she tried. She was just. So. _Freaked_. 

Today, her father was coming to visit. 

Standing in the lobby of her hotel, Charlie tapped her foot nervously. Through a doorway to her left, she could hear Angel giggling and chatting about something she couldn’t quite hear with a few other voices. She let out a sigh and rubbed a hand over her face. Angel had promised her that he would behave while her father was visiting (out of courtesy to her or fear of him, she didn’t know), and she knew he would hold himself to his promise. But she also knew that it wouldn’t stop Angel from being Angel, which meant flirting, courting, and otherwise philandering around the hotel. She was at least grateful that he was leaving Husk alone at the reception/bar, she could keep her father away from the sitting room better than she could the main entrance. She vaguely wondered to herself which of the hotel’s guests he was currently chatting up, she didn’t think any of them would really be his type. 

She had a few patrons now. There was eleven in total taking up rooms in her hotel, some more committed to the cause than others. She wasn’t completely naïve, she knew that several of them were only there for the free room and food, but she didn’t let that get in her way. She still had rules, and even if they didn’t care much for rehabilitation, there were strictures in place governing what patrons could and could not do. They were required to attend meetings and group sessions. There was a curfew that was enforced strongly. She even had a point system in place for good behaviour that allowed patrons to use points to purchase certain alcoholic beverages from Husk (a suggestion from Angel, when he and several others had reacted badly to the ‘cold turkey’ method). The system was working. 

But despite the relative success of her as of now small business, she still was nervous about her father coming by to see the place. He hadn’t been shy about making his opinions on the hotel known when she had first pitched the idea to him. He hadn’t been cruel, per se, but he could have been nicer. 

So, when she received word from her mother that he intended to drop in in less than a week, she had gone into panic mode. 

She hadn’t spoken to her father for a few weeks, getting updates from her mother on how he was going, what he had been doing. Every time she rang him, his phone went to voicemail and all her messages went unseen and unanswered. 

Her mother had told her that he was running himself ragged, working himself into the ground. She always sounded frustrated when she would talk about how much of a workaholic he had been lately, but Charlie could always hear the concern and worry that laced through her tone. It made her worry too, but she would always have a warmth spread through her chest when her mother spoke about it. She loved how much they cared for each other, and she loved them both so much.

She missed him dearly. And how she wished she could look forward to seeing him as much as she wanted to. But she couldn’t help the strung out feeling in her that almost made her want him to not show up, the tightening in her chest every time she thought of him showing up at her door. Though she knew he would, he was nothing if not a being of his word, and always punctual. 

So, when the clock on the wall of her lobby showed the time to be 9:59 am, she knew that she had exactly one minute to collect herself and straighten her bow-tie. Once everything was in order, she stood as straight as she could, hands tucked behind her back. And just as she knew would happen, when the clock ticked over that final minute, the doorbell on the hotel rang out loudly through the lobby. She took in a deep breath, and reached towards the door-handle, opening with bated breath. 

“Princess!” 

There stood her father, grin stretched across his face and eyes alight. He was dressed in his typical white and pink ringmaster inspired suit, cleanly pressed and wrinkle free. He stretched his arms out and took a small step into the hotel. Charlie immediately felt the trepidation and worry disappear from her stomach and she felt her face nearly split in two with a grin. 

“Dad!” 

She rushed forward into her father’s arms, wrapping hers tightly around his neck and burying her head into his shoulder. His arms closed around her like a vice, squeezing her to him almost painfully tight, lifting her slightly from the ground before placing her back down. They stood like that for a moments time, Lucifer's arms didn’t loosen one bit until she loosened her own, and he let her pull away from him, running his hands down her arms and then taking her hands in his own. 

It felt like forever since she had seen him. She felt the smile on her face stretch further and her chest welled with happiness. It seemed like her father shared the sentiment.

“Darling, it feels like years since I’ve seen you! Look at how much you’ve grown!” His cheery voice filled the lobby and any last shred of tension disappeared. 

Charlie giggled at her father’s exaggeration. “It hasn’t even been a month, dad. Come in!” She pulled on her father’s hands to lead him further into the lobby, the door swinging shut behind him. 

“A month is a very long time when it comes to family, sweetheart! I’m very sorry it’s taken me this long to visit, but hell has been, well… hell.” Lucifer let out a heavy sigh, smile slipping from his face for a moment, and she could see the tiredness that marked under his eyes. The change in mood didn’t last long, as Lucifer’s eyes flicked around the room and he quickly took in his surroundings. His grin returned, reaching his eyes and wiping away the exhaustion again, like it was never there.

“And, my! Look what you’ve done with the place! Why it certainly cleans up nicely!” His energy was contagious to Charlie, and she grinned happily at his assessment. When she had first shown him the place that would become her Hotel, he was none too happy at the state of it. Being quite a cleanly being, the dirt, grime and desolation that clung to every surface of the abandoned building had seemed to offend him personally. 

But now, the hotel was spotless (Charlie made a mental note to apologise and thank Nifty later), beautiful, ornate furniture filling every room that was currently in use. The lobby itself was grand and warm, patterned rugs spread across the floor and regal paintings hung from the walls. Above them was touch that Alastor had insisted upon, and Charlie was more than excited for, despite Vaggie’s concerns that it was too much. A large, crystal and gold chandelier that at night lit up nearly the entire bottom floor of the hotel. It was extravagant, and yes, maybe a touch too much for a rehab centre fronting as a hotel, but Charlie had _adored_ it from the second Alastor had conjured it and refused to back down.

And her father liked it! His eyes practically sparkled as he took in the décor, eyes glinting gleefully and grin widening. He had a love for the over-the-top, the unnecessarily lavish and the needlessly excessive. The lobby was exactly his style, and he had definitely passed on that style to Charlie. 

Charlie felt a bristle of pride. Though, she reminded herself, it wasn’t all hers to take credit for. 

“Thanks, dad! But I couldn’t have done this all on my own. Vaggie has been a huge help, and we also have had help from a… benefactor?” Charlie wasn’t sure what to refer to Alastor as. He was always reminding them that he was there for the entertainment, but he also played a massive part in keeping the hotel running. He had been a great help with the finances, despite Charlie being insistent that it wasn’t necessary, so benefactor seemed like the most appropriate word for him. 

She honestly didn’t know how her father would take the news of his involvement in the hotel. Protective to almost a fault, he could very well see Alastor as a threat to her.

Not that Alastor had stepped a toe out of line. Quite the opposite. On top of his financial assistance, Alastor had been a picture of good faith. He helped clean and set up rooms, advertise, enforce rules and regulations. He cooked for them, hearty recipes from his life in New Orleans that were always crowd-pleasers. He hadn’t put out a single one of his usual broadcasts, and had managed to abstain from any violent activities, at least ones that affected the hotel. Alastor had been more helpful than she could have ever hoped for. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t dangerous. 

Lucifer raised an eyebrow, still smiling, “Oh? And who might that be?” 

White noise filled Charlies ears for a moment, the air in the room crackled with static and she felt an odd pull at her stomach. Charlie tightened her hands in Lucifer’s on instinct, who gave a reassuring squeeze back as he looked around quizzically. A few moments later, the room suddenly plunged back into silence, and the white noise was replaced by a radio tin voice from a few feet away. 

“ **My ears are burning~** ”


	2. Wait, what?

Charlie froze. The tension that had seeped out of her body earlier returning full force as her eyes snapped towards the new presence in the room. Of course Alastor would choose now to show up, hands folded neatly behind his back, and customary grin stretched across his face. Charlie hadn’t had time to think up a way to soften the blow of Alastor’s existence in her life to her father, despite the weeklong anxiety fest she had endured leading up to this day. She had been too distracted with making sure everything else was perfect and prepared for Lucifer’s visit.

But now in this instant she couldn’t help but feel like she’d neglected a very important task and her mind immediately went into overdrive. She opened her mouth to speak, hoping to enact some damage control before anything happened. But Charlie barely got a squeak out before being cut off.

“Alastor, my dear old friend!”

…

_‘Friend?’_

Lucifer hands let go of Charlie’s, and he swept away towards where the Radio Demon had manifested in the room, arms outstretched. For a dreaded moment, Charlie thought he was going to embrace the other, and her heart jumped into her throat as she watched him approach Alastor.

Charlie was well aware of Alastor’s feelings towards being touched. Whilst the Radio Demon wasn’t shy of hugging, grabbing and otherwise prodding, poking and handling others on the regular, he was exceptionally particular when it came to the same treatment of his own person. That is to say, you did not touch Alastor or bad things would happen. Charlie had mostly come to this conclusion from the aftermath of Angels increasingly bold attempts at propositioning the Radio Demon.

Alastor, of course, would not directly harm Angel in these instances, that would be going against Charlie’s number one rule; no violence. But after several obvious attempts to shut down the others advances failed, and hands started to wander, Alastor’s typical reaction was to disappear with a snap of his fingers and a dramatic burst of shadows, leaving behind a disoriented (and occasionally concussed) Angel, several broken windows and considerable damage to any surrounding infrastructure. 

Damage caused by Angel related events would always be fixed by the following day, so Charlie felt that for now, the problem could go unmentioned. As small part of her hoped that these interactions would start to trigger a change in Angel, hoped that maybe he would start to respect boundaries a little more if it meant that violating them ended in less than desirable results. So far, not much luck in that department when it came to people who weren’t Alastor. But Charlie liked to think that the Radio Demon was being accosted a little less frequently, and a little less insistently.

But she didn’t even want to think about what may happen if Alastor reacted that way towards her father. A display of power like that towards a prideful being like Lucifer was bound to end badly, especially if there was intent to harm. There would be no way that an act like that would remain unacknowledged or unpunished.

But Charlie’s worry, it seemed, was for nothing.

When Lucifer reached the Radio Demon, he moved elegantly to Alastor’s side instead. He pulled his hands back towards his body, hands clasping in front of his chest as he looked up at the taller being, grinning fondly. Charlie watched as Alastor took a small step to the side, putting just enough space between himself and the King to bend into a deep bow, hand crossing his chest.

“ **Your majesty ~**.” Alastor’s voice was low, the static that usually accompanied his speech dulling to almost silence for a moment. But his tone was still chipper as always, not a hint of malice or sarcasm to be found, which Charlie found to be quite impressive. Alastor didn’t seem like the type to refer to anyone by a title that commanded as much respect as ‘your majesty’, and he certainly didn’t seem like the type to _literally bow down_ to anyone.

Lucifer watched the Radio Demon’s movements, eyes half lidded, and friendly grin still stretched across his face. As the other pulled himself back out of his bow, Lucifer chuckled lowly, meeting Alastor’s gaze and now somewhat calmer, less murder-y smile.

Charlie looked on at the exchange, confused. The two seemed friendly enough with each other, and so far as she could tell, it didn’t seem to her like it was an attempt at misleading her. Not a front or a façade. All of this to say, Charlie didn’t trust it. She narrowed her eyes momentarily, before clearing her throat.

“Um… I didn’t know you two knew each other…?” She tried to sound as casual as possible, putting on her most polite smile. But even she could hear the suspicion seeping through her tone as she spoke, and she hated the way it turned her voice slightly sour.

Lucifer was the first one to break eye-contact from the apparent staring contest the two had been engaged in, turning towards his daughter. Alastor followed the motion, taking a step toward Charlie as he spoke. “ **Why, I can’t believe I never mentioned, Charlie!** ”

Alastor reached over and clasped a hand down on Lucifer’s shoulder. Her father barely even reacted to the touch, his eyes flicking to the other man as he continued to talk animatedly. Charlie could have sworn she saw his eyes soften a little, his grin falling into a more relaxed smile. But she chalked it up to the distance she stood at and bad lighting. “ **I believe it would have been mere weeks into my arriving here that I met your father!** ”

Alastor laughed jovially, puffing his chest out and gripping a lapel on his pinstriped jacket with one hand, other hand releasing Lucifer’s shoulder and conjuring his microphone, utilising it as a cane as he placed his hand over the top. Music starting crackling around the Radio Demon, and Charlie vaguely recognised it as something akin to The Royal March that played in the old human war movies her father used to watch when she was younger. “ **I like to think I made quite the entrance to have caught the eye of royalty!** ”

Alastor’s face shone with something akin to pride, a laugh track sounding out of seemingly nowhere at his half-joke, cutting off the swelling music. Lucifer chuckled alongside the ‘audience’, stepping forward to be level with Alastor again, he raised a hand to gesture towards the Radio Demon. “Well, I had heard a few of Alastor’s broadcasts and just knew he had to be an interesting fellow, so of course I had to introduce myself!”

Charlie listened with rapt attention. It made sense that her father knew who Alastor was. Lucifer was fastidious when it came to keeping tabs on the Overlords of Hell, and someone like Alastor didn’t appear in Lucifer’s domain without him taking notice. But she never would have thought that they would be friends. Her father had never shown anything but disdain for the Overlords, seeing them as more of a thorn in their side than anything else. Beings that he would occasionally be forced to intervene with when one of them got a little too comfortable in their power, and even then, he very rarely did the dirty work himself.

And the way the two of them interacted… it seemed so easy, like they had just fallen into an old routine of joking, laughing. It was unbelievable. She blinked away the thoughts when Lucifer began to speak again.

“It may have been a decade or so since we last spoke, but I would go so far as to say that Alastor here is one of my dearest of friends!”

Her father turned to the demon and grinned, reaching out his own hand and _holy crap_ placing it over Alastor’s, where it rested on top of his microphone. The touch was light and gentle, and her father had moved slowly, carefully. Charlie watched in awe as the touch garnered little more than a slight tensing in the Radio Demon’s grip on his microphone.

Now, touches like that didn’t often elicit violent reactions from Alastor anyway. Usually opting to push away and remove the offending hand, spending the next few moments brushing off, rubbing at or otherwise trying to eliminate any remnants of the action. But this was different. Alastor hadn’t immediately recoiled from the touch, and after a moment, he relaxed again. He was allowing Lucifer to leave his hand there, and Charlie thought she had never seen something so strange. 

Alastor let out a small chuckle, his face seeming to melt slightly into a more relaxed expression, and this time Charlie definitely didn’t imagine it. “ **Why, your highness, I’m flattered.** ”

Charlie felt a weird tension fill the air, making her very uncomfortable, though she couldn’t tell why. After not even a few seconds, Charlie reached her threshold for awkward. “Well, that’s great then! I’m so glad you two are friends!” She attempted a grin at her dad, who turned back towards her with a grin of his own.

Lucifer let go of Alastor’s hand and walked towards her.

“Well, darling, how about that tour? I’d love to see what you’ve done with the place!” The tension in the air now gone, Charlie felt herself relax somewhat.

“Of course! Follow me, I’ll show you around!” She grabbed her father’s hand and pulled him towards her as she started for the reception, where Husk was sitting with his chin in his hand, eyes focused on a newspaper he had splayed out on the bar. He was completely uninterested in what was happening in the room around him, but Charlie was thankful that he had heeded her request that he not be drinking when her father arrived.

Lucifer happily moved with her, coming to her side and wrapping a loving arm around her shoulder, manifesting his cane in his other hand just as Alastor had to click against the ground as he walked. Charlie saw her father cast a glance over his shoulder, could have sworn she saw him give a wink towards the Radio Demon who remained where he was. _Weird, but not_ that _weird_ , Charlie thought unconvincingly to herself. Lucifer was always overly affectionate with everyone, surely this was just another case of that. For not the first time in the past few minutes, she shook her head, willing away the thoughts again.

Charlie called a quick, “See you at dinner, Al!” over her shoulder, catching his enthusiastic wave and now more Alastor-esque grin, any softness from before (imaginary or not) wiped away with the toothy smile.

“ **Of course, my dear! I’ll make my speciality! It’ll be a feast fit for kings!** ” 

Charlie felt her father’s shoulders shake slightly with silent laughter and felt a giggle of her own bubble up. “Isn’t it always, Al!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How do you guys feel about Cajun!Alastor? I love that headcannon and definitely want to use it! 
> 
> Let me know how you're liking it so far!

**Author's Note:**

> There's not nearly enough of this pairing in the world right now. Let me know what you think! 
> 
> There will be more! And it's gonna be j u i c y.


End file.
